All is Well!

We got a brief message from Dallin mid-week.  There is no internet on the whole island right now, but they managed to buy minutes through their phones and send an email:

Hi Mom, Dad, Taylor, and Cami!

I am sorry I haven't been able to email this week. We have absolutely zero internet on the island. So we bought a bunch of phone credit, and I'm on our phone's internet for a bit. Its really hard to type, this touch keyboard sucks. But, I am happy and healthy, our nurse brought some packages and such, so I have a backpack, Crocs, the chair, the rain gear, flip flops, one rubber Frisbee, and a tie. They just opened up the packages and President Weir picked things that would be useful. She brought it in a suitcase, so weight was an issue, and no books came for that reason. No food because it's illegal to bring it from Tarawa to Fiji. But I'm glad I got what I did! I read your emails, no pictures. They're expensive to download on the phone.  I also got some letters from Kalani and some pictures too. Basically a good week. 

My arm is healed, and I'm doing fine. We only spent a few hours with her, (the nurse) she came on the morning flight and left on the afternoon flight. She did however perform minor surgery on my arm. Ow. She cut it open and took out a piece of infected tissue, then cleaned it with peroxide. It worked though, its all the way healed now. Other than that, I didn't see her much.

 We have one baptism on Saturday, and a bunch on the 14th. Everyone is progressing!
 I'm generally good, but I got food poisoning last week, and I have never thrown up so many times. Unfortunately that was the day the nurse got here, so I looked terrible for her. It blew over in 18 hours or so. I'm better now. Sounds like you guys were busy too. Lots of fun. Work mode is hard, I'm feeling claustrophobic kind of. I've been here for so long its starting to close in. Were still doing a lot of work though, and staying busy helps.

Love you,
Dal

No email this week

We did not hear from Dallin this week.  We can only assume that there was no internet on the island yesterday.  We hope he will be able to send out something, but maybe we will just have to wait until next week.

Skype Call!!

We finally got to Skype with Dallin today!  Funny, but we will only do this 3 times on his mission.  He wasn't allowed to call for Christmas because he was in the MTC.  One down, two to go!  I can't even tell you how wonderful it was to see his smiling face.  He was talking to us outside the Captain Cook Hotel on the other side of Christmas Island.  This is a place where fishermen come from all over the world, so it has decent wifi.  He seems really happy and is doing great with the language.  I was especially anxious to see him and know he was feeling OK.  He had a rough week last week.  He had a terrible infection in his arm and there is still some swelling and lots of bruising, but it is healing.  The nurse ordered him back to bed rest on Saturday after she found out he went out teaching again.  She will arrive on Wednesday and determine if he needs any further antibiotics.

It was so nice to laugh and tease and hear stories.  He told us some classic stories about mixing up words that were similar in pronunciation during teaching moments.  Like when he used the word for destruction instead of salvation... and when he told some people that's enough (as in knock it off) instead of oh, sure!  He also told us that people point with their noses instead of pointing with their finger.  They also say yes by raising their eyebrows.

We teased him about how he wears a "dress" now (see the posting about the Bae) and how the inflection in his sentences is very different.  He wanted to hear about everyone back home and says "Hi" to all his friends.  He doesn't really ever get real mail, but loves getting email and can open pictures if you send them.  We found out the elders live behind the church in the stick hut (built by the Elder's Quorum), while the senior couple and sisters live in brick houses with air conditioning right next door!  So funny!  If you ever wondered if the brethren have a great respect for the women of the church just think about those living arrangements.

He also just got his Kiribati driver's license.  Americans can easily get a license, but elders from other countries sometimes cannot.  The mission van is a 15 passenger diesel stick shift.  He said it is super old and very difficult to drive.  Not to mention he drives on the other side of the road!  He said it is a real adventure.

He is super excited for all his roommates who are getting ready to leave on their missions.  Two are going to Chile, one to Japan, one already in Arizona, and one to New York, New York!  He is anxious to hear about all their adventures.  We sent him a picture of Evan and Tim when they dropped by and another of Ali who we saw at the choir concert.  He was really happy to see them.

He was annoyed that I kept snapping pictures during out chat, but it was better than him having to send them to me.  I don't know why he hates pictures so much :)  Here are a few pictures of him and two videos of him speaking in Kiribati.  The second video is the introduction he does every time he meets someone.  Everyone in the culture says the same things about themselves in the same order every time they meet someone new... and you have to say "mauri" in the right place.  The first video is him talking about The Book of Mormon.

We are so relieved he is healthy and well.  Thank you to everyone who has been praying for him.  We know that prayers work and are so grateful for your love and support!

Happy Mother's Day!

Hi Mom, Dad, Taylor and Cami,

Happy Mothers Day! I hope you're all being very nice to Mom and that you're having a really really fun day. I am sorry that we're not skyping this week, we'll definitely Skype next week however! It's for the best, so Dad can be home too.

Right now, I am emailing from a borrowed laptop at the Captain Cook Hotel. I'm on splits with Elder Davis, and we're working in Banana. The Banana elders however are SO lucky, and their housing is just one of the rooms in the hotel. Now, keep in mind, hotel is a bit of a stretch. It's not super nice, but pretty much anything beats the stick house. I'm enjoying the view, right next to the ocean. I'm also enjoying the wifi, the fan, and the fact that I'm sitting on a soft bed. Not that I am upset with my stick bed, but the soft bed is nice. Interestingly enough, I had a terrible night's sleep last night, my body was not used to the soft bed and I couldn't fall asleep. Too used to sleeping on the stick bed in the stick house I guess. Banana is nice, but I miss my own area.

Speaking of, my area is totally taking off! The work is progressing at a remarkable pace. We had 3 baptisms two weeks ago, we had 3 on Saturday, and we're looking for 7-9 on the 24th. So exciting. All of our people are really progressing, and they're really enjoying our lessons. I'm so grateful to be working with Elder Raika, and we've been trying to work as hard as we can every day. It's been so nice just to be working so hard. The problem is, we worked so hard the beginning of this week, we both got really sick. Bad news. So that was tough. We're working on it, getting healthy is more important than numbers or stats I suppose. I'm grateful for the time we do have to work however, it's been really good and I feel like I am growing a lot.

We were able to baptize Kareobwa, Kabure, and Mweretaka this week. They are excellent investigators. We've been working with them for so long through smoking habits, through working on their marriage, and through all of our lessons. They've come so far, and they are so ready to be baptized. I'm grateful for the chance I had to teach them and that I was able to be a part of their conversion even in some small way.

President Weir just emailed back and informed me that I will FINALLY get to meet him on June 18th, here on Christmas Island. after 6 months on the mission I will finally  to know my mission president. Another side affect/ good news that comes from that is that until that point, I know I won't be transferred :) Fun times getting to stay on Christmas! Elder Hamula of the Seventy will also be coming to visit us, and I'm excited to get to meet him as well.

I recently restarted reading in the Book of Mormon. Everyone knows the famous 1st Nephi 3:7 verse, about going and doing. But I went back a few pages and found that 1 Nephi 2:16is an equally important verse, which provides the basis of Nephi's faith that gets so prominently displayed in the following chapters. Always fun to go back and find new things in old stories.

I'm almost out of battery on the laptop here, but I want you all to know that I love you and am  grateful for your support and kindness in keeping me in your prayers. Thanks again for all your thoughts and love! I'll talk to you next week (on Skype!).

Love Dal

Because of Him

A Kie and A Bae

(Dallin and Sister LavuLavu before she was transferred.  He titled it Elder Flowerhead.)

Dear Mom, Dad, Cami and Taylor,

So good to hear from all of you! I am glad that you're all having some really fun weeks and that school and life and work and everything is going well. I can't believe how normal ife sounds so remarkably exciting to me right now. I am so grateful to have my perspective so flipped, and I think I'll be much happier for it in the years to come. 

I will admit right off the bat that I am exhausted this morning, and thus ask for your forgiveness for however this letter turns out. Last night it stormed hard, and when it really storms, the wind gets gusty and blows the rain DIRECTLY THROUGH the walls of our stick house. So I was soaking wet and cold last night, and I didn't get much sleep.

The good news is, that was about the only bad thing that happened all week! We had a really really good week for lessons, and for learning individually. I felt like I made lots of improvements in my studies and in my teaching skills, and I'm really working on my Kiribati grammar more. Elder Raika is an ace teacher and he has the best language skills in the mission, so I am so grateful to be working with him right now and learning from him. 

We got to attend a marriage this week! Our investigator Mweretaka and his girlfriend Rawenta just got married so that he can be baptized this saturday. We have another marriage today, our investigators Kareobwa and Kabure will be married today and then baptized on Satrday as well. They're all great investigators and we're so grateful for the progress they've made. It's been a long time coming, and we're glad they've finally made it to baptism.

We had an awesome district meeting on Thursday. Elder Raika gave our training, and we decided as a district to study a Christlike attribute together. We picked obedience. As a part of my personal studies, I really focused on trying to study about obedience, and I read the story of Abraham and Isaac. It really hit me that obedience is nothing more than a choice. People always talk it up, especially among missionaries where there's lots of rules and such. The main thing is, we choose whether or not we want to follow our own will or God's will more. When you simplify it down like that, it seems a whole lot easier to choose to be obedient, even in the little things, and especially in the big things.

Cool and random unrelated news, I bought a kie and a bae, as souvenirs from Christmas Island. The kie is like, this traditional woven mat thing. I actually sleep on 3 of them right now on top of my stick bed. But I bought a fancy thick one to take home, and it's got a cool pattern on it. I also bought a bae, which is essentially this big piece of fabric stamped with a cool picture on the bottom that you tie into a skirt type thing. Basically, it is an excuse to not wear pants because it's hot outside. And I'm surprised how okay with that I am. Anyways, I wear my bae and sit on my kie and feel super Kiribati. Lots and lots of fun.

I'm genuinely sorry I don't have more letter-writing stamina right now. Just know that this was a great week! we worked hard and I am very tired, and I plan on napping after the marriage today. I love you all, and I'm so grateful for your prayers and support!

Love, Dal